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Sunday, November 9, 2008

The title refers to fish, not jazz. A beautiful fall afternoon demonstrates the prescience of Judge Griesa of the U.S. District Court in Manhattan. 25 years ago, in Sierra Club v. Army Corps of Engineers, the bold judge said that they couldn't build Westway, an interstate highway on the West Side of Manhattan, because they hadn't studied the impact on "one of America's good game fish" the striped bass. The breeding grounds among the piers and pilings of the west side of Manhattan would have been buried in landfill.

So for lack of an Environmental Impact Statement the striped bass were saved - and perhaps the bluefish too. For me and John, and Terence, drifting on John and Capt. Mudd's Dyer 29 Alice, in our favorite spot: on the ebb tide at Hell Gate, with live eels and bunker for bait, from the Triborough Bridge to Shooter's Island, just off 96th Street, where the Harlem River meets the East River.

In case you're wondering - that striper is 36", the blues 29", 26", and 26". And Yes - we ate them.